Nirvana was, without a doubt, one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time. Although nowadays there are teenagers who wear Nirvana t-shirts without knowing the band at all, they were responsible for bringing rock back to the top of mainstream media at a time when rock music was considered to be over.

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Everybody knows about Kurt Cobain’s untimely death by suicide and his relationship with Courtney Love, which could be troubling and loving at the same time. But there are still a lot of unknown facts about Nirvana, a band that in less than four years, changed music forever.

10 As A Kid, Kurt Cobain Witnessed Domestic Violence

The lyrical themes of Nirvana are not always happy: many songs deal with divorce (“Serve the Servants”) and pain (“You Know You’re Right”), among other melancholic topics. When he was a kid, his parents divorced and both found new partners.

In the biography Heavier Than Heaven, Charles Cross talks about how Kurt Cobain's father had another son with another woman – which would have perhaps made him feel more out of place, belonging to a family that didn’t exist anymore. However, it was even worse with his mother: she was a victim of domestic abuse from one of her boyfriends, who even broke her arm, and Kurt witnessed it all.

9 Kurt Cobain’s First Music Was Released Under The Name “Fecal Matter”

That’s right: although his influences were very diverse, with constant nods to the Beatles in his later compositions, Cobain’s first musical act was a band that had the unusual name, Fecal Matter.

They would play punk rock and did not see a lot of success. However, Fecal Matter’s short life-span was enough to produce one tape, Illiteracy Will Prevail. It did make Cobain known around Seattle, and it spawned two of Nirvana’s later songs, “Spank Thru” and “Downer.”

8 Nirvana’s Embryo Band Was A Creedence Clearwater Revival Cover Group

Once Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic started playing together, the foundation of Nirvana was set. They chose the name The Sellouts and started rehearsing. Interestingly, they intended on covering the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival, according to Dave Grohl.

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Of course, Creedence is a legendary American band and most rock fans love them – and what is there not to love? Still, it is interesting to see that such a loud, irreverent, grungy band began by covering blues and country-rock. With Bob McFadden on drums, the band didn’t last long – but it was enough to start a musical revolution.

7 They Went Through A Lot Of Drummers Before Settling On Dave Grohl

Nowadays, Dave Grohl is universally respected and admired – not to mention, rich. But Nirvana had a lot of people sitting behind the drum kit before they found him.

First, they had Aaron Burckhard, who did not last long. Then, they found Chad Channing, who they enjoyed jamming with, and that was the drummer on their first album. However, Dale Crover, drummer for the band Melvins, also played on a couple of tracks. With Channing feeling left out by the band, they recorded the single “Sliver” with Dan Peters, also from another band – Mudhoney. They finally met Dave Grohl through Crover – and the three immediately felt it was a perfect match.

6 Their First Single Was A Cover Of A Dutch Band From The 60s

“Love Buzz,” a hypnotic, screaming single from Bleach, sounds like classic pre-Nevermind Nirvana. It’s raw, full of energy, and distorted as it could be. Curiously, such a hardcore song is actually a cover of a song from a psychedelic rock band from the Netherlands - Shocking Blue - and was originally released in 1969.

After that, Nirvana would also cover less-known bands, such as Meat Puppets and The Vaselines, but with “Love Buzz”, they went way back.

5 Their First Album Cost Less Than $1,000 To Make

Bleach, the first of Nirvana’s three studio albums, was recorded on the underground – and now-legendary – Sub Pop label. The album, with classics such as “About A Girl,” “Love Buzz,” “Negative Creep,” and “Blew” was not as catchy and polished as its successor Nevermind, but showed the potential of the band.

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The whole recording and mixing sessions, however, were paid for by their friend Jason Everman – who would be rewarded by being listed as the rhythm guitar player of the album without playing a chord. The price? $606 U.S. dollars. Four years later, their album In Utero would cost USD $25,000.

4 They Chose The Mixing Engineer For Nevermind – And Then Had It Remixed

Their second and most famous and iconic album, Nevermind, was released with a big label, DGC, a division of Geffen records. With a bigger budget and more options, they chose Butch Vig to be their producer and, later, mix the tracks.

Once the tracks were mixed, however, they did not like the sound very much. They then enlisted Andy Wallace, who had worked with thrash metal legend, Slayer. With more punchy drums and guitar, they finally got the Nirvana sound they wanted.

3 The Band Almost Broke Up Because Of Songwriting Royalties

On their first albums, the songwriting credits and royalties were split evenly among the band. After the worldwide success of Nevermind, however, Kurt Cobain felt that it would be fair to get the royalties for himself, as he wrote pretty much all of the band’s music.

When he mentioned that the new agreement should also retroactively include Nevermind’s songs, Dave and Krist were not happy. After arguing, the band was almost dissolved. In the end, Kurt Cobain got 75 percent of the royalties for the album.

2 Kurt Cobain Was A Supporter of LGBTQ+ Rights

As a teenager, Kurt Cobain would spray-paint the words “God Is Gay” on walls around his town, a sentence that would later become lyrics for the Nirvana song “Stay Away.” He was generally very progressive about the topic, among other positive stances that the band had, including their support of feminism.

In one interview, he said that he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual." In his Journals, he wrote, “I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes.”

1 Courtney Love Once Administered Naloxone To Cobain Instead Of Calling Him An Ambulance

As Cobain’s heroin addiction grew more severe, Nirvana’s concerts got more erratic and less musical.

According to Charles Cross in Heavier Than Heaven, in July 1993 they were scheduled to play in New York City when he suffered a heroin overdose. Instead of calling an ambulance, Courtney Love gave him naloxone to make him conscious again. Stumbling, Cobain went on and delivered an obviously doubtful performance. He would be dead in less than a year.

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